THE hydrogen bomb (H pump), or thermonuclear bomb, is the most powerful type of weapon ever invented in history. To get an idea of the power of a hydrogen bomb, the first one, tested by the United States in 1952, was 700 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on the city of Hiroshima, on August 6, 1945.
Cold War and Nuclear Weapons
After the release ofatomic bombs over Japan - a fact that, in large part, was decisive in putting an end to the SecondWar -, a Unitysoviet, commanded by josephStalin, began the investment process in the same type of atomic technology that had been conquered by the USA. In 1949, the Soviets carried out their first nuclear test, managing to explode an artifact similar to those detonated in Japanese cities. Since then, the rivalry between the two superpowers (USA and USSR) in the search for the most powerful weapon generated the phenomenon known as “racearmamentist”.
The highlight of this “race” was the sequence of tests carried out with hydrogen bombs. The first test, as we have already said, was made by the USA, in 1952, and was named Mike. This bomb exploded on the Marshall Islands, on Enewetalk Atoll, and reached the force of 10 megatons of power (ie, 10 megatons [million tons] of dynamite). To the Mike another test followed, at Bikini Atoll, also carried out by the US, on March 1, 1954. This test was known as Castle Bravo, whose explosion reached the level of 15 megatons.
In 1955, it was the USSR's turn to carry out its first H-bomb test. The test was held November 22 and was named RDS-37. The goal of the Soviet leader, Nikita Krushev – who succeeded Stalin – was to reach the level of 100 megatons.
The most powerful bomb: Tsar Bomb
The leader of the Soviet atomic project, the physicist Andrei Sakharov, convinced the Soviet authorities that a 100 megaton H-bomb was quite dangerous, with untold destructive effects. The project then reduced the artifact's power in half, thus targeting 50 megatons.
The project was carried forward and the result was named Tsar Bomb – the “Tsar Bomb” – in reference to one of the most famous Russian tsars, Ivan the Terrible. THE Tsar Bomb was tested on October 30, 1961, in the archipelago of Nova Zembla, in the Arctic Ocean. Its explosion exceeded the predicted power, reaching 57 megatons, generating a diameter of 70 kilometers of destruction, with 4 kilometers of “fireball” (ie, of incandescent energy). Until today, the Tsar Bomb it was the most powerful bomb ever tested.
The Effects of Hydrogen Bombs
To get an idea of the devastating potential of the H-bomb, here are some comments from one of the senior officials of the British administrative center (whitehall), WilliamStrath, about what would be the effects of launching some of them on the territory of the United Kingdom. The quote is taken from the book. The men of the end of the world: the real dr. Fantastic and the dream of the gun total, by the historian P.D. Smith:
Strath estimated that a "successful night attack" against Britain's major cities with ten bombs hydrogen would kill at least 12 million people and seriously injure another 4 million – a third of the population British. Strath admitted that "casualties on this scale are intolerable." A single 10 megaton bomb would be enough to “annihilate” any city other than London. [1]
Continues Smith:
Strath laid out to his political leaders, in clear, dry, factual language, the ultimate horror that all the people of the country would have to face.” An attack on the United Kingdom with ten hydrogen bombs, each with 10 megatons, would amount to the launch of 100 million tons of powerful explosives, that is, “45 times more than the total tonnage of bombs dropped on occupied Germany, Italy and France during the entire period. war". [2]
Thus, we realized that the “dream of the total weapon” for some, became a real nightmare for many others.
GRADES
[1] SMITH, P.D.. The men of the end of the world: the real dr. Fantastic and the dream of the total weapon. (trans. José Viegas Filho). São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2008. P. 405.
[2] Ibid. P. 405.
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes
